Monday, June 8, 2009

I was just sitting on my deck a few days ago admiring the Moon when a thin layer of clouds crossed it's path, I used the binoculars to see the effect they were having on it, and it looked beautiful.

Thought great, got my camera out, took some images but something got lost in the translation. So I noticed the Moon was going to be coming into view of my telescope sight in about 20 minutes, thought to myself, I got to try and translate what I am seeing into a picture, maybe the scope can do it. Clouds in just the right amount can add so much to the character of the Moon, acting like a filter they can actually bring out more detail and add mystery to it.

Opened up my POD, (Personal Observatory Dome), got everything set up but the clouds disappeared, this was actually a good thing, gave me time to focus on the Moon, image below, it is so hard to get a tight focus when clouds are in the way.

From this point on it was hurry up and wait, I just kind of hung out in my POD for almost an hour till the clouds finally came back, just in time, I did not want to loose the daylight, the daylight was a big part of what I was seeing, I love a daytime Moon, so pretty.

Eventually some more clouds crossed the Moon's path once again, and what you are seeing in these images are the results of a cloudy daytime Gibbous Moon, (gibbous meaning the Moon being more then half illuminated), I thought they turned out pretty good, a good representation of what I saw that night.

Heads up, the good old Mars Hoax is going around again. I have had plenty of emails already this year, even one from one of the directors of the company I work for about the validity of an email going around stating that in August, Mars, being so close to Earth will look to be the same size as our Moon, not true!!

This hoax started when back in August of 2003 Mars orbit put it only 56 million km from Earth, the closest it had ever been in recorded history. Somebody thought it would be neat to start a rumor stating that because Mars was so close to the Earth it would look the same size as the Moon.

It mixes truth and fantasy. True, back in August 2003 Mars was closest it had ever been to Earth, also true it wouldn't be this close to us again till 2287, but not true about Mars being the same size as the Moon.

I remember the first time I encountered this hoax, a friend of mine, after reading the email back in July of 2004 called me to ask if I would take an image of Mars for him seeing that it was going to be as big as the Moon, I said sure, no prob......... wait, what'd you say....... better send me a copy of that email.

He then forwarded me the email, a power point presentation. The next time I saw him, I explained that the email was bogus and the reasons, but he gave me the, yeah but it is on the internet, it must be true look. I finally convinced him and gazillions of other people, well at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head, that Mars will never be the same apparent size as the Moon, will this ever end........ probably not.

I took the image below back in December 2007 when Mars was in conjunction with the Moon, it shows the real apparent size comparison, you can see they aren't the same size by any stretch of the imagination.

Thanks Colin, you know it clouded up for my final Moon shots and it hasn't cleared up since,lol, as you know we have been having terrible weather here, probably because you went and got a new scope which almost always guarantees cloudy skies,lol.\m/\m/

Beautiful moon shots, Bob. You have me wanting a telescope. What photos you snap!!! The clouds passing over the moon always has me gazing at that orb with the mysterious atmosphere it provides. Makes one think of our Creator.

If Mars came that close, what would happen to us? Would we be affected by it? I bet we would land on it, for sure. :D Perhaps Mars will draw closer when Revelations starts happening. I think you should write a novel!!!

You know, it's funny you say that, because I took some Moon shots on Thursday night, then bought the telescope Friday, and it all went to hell after that. Hasn't been clear since. Just like me putting the snow brush away three times in May and it snowed the next day each time. Just can't win I guess. I promise, I won't buy any more equipment. That should appease the weather gods. ;)

Thanks JJ and great question, first off if Mars was really that close to be looking the same size as our Moon, we would have crazy tides, and probably our weather patterns would be screwed up, probably the seasons and who knows what else, lots of conjecture.\m/\m/

Hi Bob,I am back on the air.My pc was struck by lightning and my iternet connection was dialup.I now have a new Pc and highspeed so,I will be visiting your blog on a regular basis now.My old connection speed was only 24kbs.Now I am at 3mbs....yay!!!

Thanks Ivanhoe, you'd be surprised how many people, who don't read this blog of course, didn't know the Mars size thing wasn't true, some people, before they talk to me of course didn't know our Sun is a star.\m/\m/

Great shots Bob! You and Anna are the only two I know who have a unique gift of taking great shots of the moon in any weather!Sorry I haven't been around much. Busted my ankle and have been sulking :-(Will try to be more proactive.These moon shots of yours have given me another idea for a story...hmmm interesting concept that I'm conjuring up my dear Boba...interesting.Talk to you later my friend.~JD

Lol Will about the telemarketers and cell phones. Mercury does have a highly elliptical orbit and is closest to us when it is on this side of the Sun facing us, what they call inferior conjunction, about 48 million miles, on the other side of the Sun, around 138 million miles away from us.\m/\m/

Hey Bob. I finally got some new Moon pics on my blog. They turned out okay, but I couldn't focus properly so I think the mirror is not collimated properly. Anyway, they are the first ones through a "real" telescope" so enjoy.

Hey Bob, Thanks for sharing another great set of photos of the moon. I too have seen the Mars emails floating about - one was sent to me at work by one of my colleagues and they wanted to see about promoting it in the company newsletter.

Hi! Great shots once again! NOW! There's a story going around here that perhaps one day Mars will come out of its orbit and wipe out the Earth. You seem to have your finger on the pulse when it comes to these type of stories. Any truth to this?

Thanks Peter. There is a very remote chance that in a billion years Mars or Venus could crash into Earth.There are a lot of variables involved, my guess is it won't happen before we have killed ourselves off with nuclear weapons,lol.\m/\m/

Hey Bob, sharks the Mars is not going to be big as moon - too bad, lol. Kidding aside your Moon photos are amazing. I love the cloud effect. I have some too, but I never thought that it would look that good. And I guess I told you about Matthew knowing the Moon. Now he knows even better, he sees is before me, lol. I better beef up on my skills, lol, as I got my little competition going. Excellent post Bob as always. Anna :)